In Between
by Sylvia Viridian
Summary: Noishe catches a traveler snooping around his stall when the party stays the night in Triet. They take her with them, to keep an eye on her, and she aids them on their journey. But Eryn has plenty of secrets of her own... OCKratos onesided
1. The Traveler

All right, I know I haven't posted anything for a long time, but my tastes they are a-changing...Let's hope I manage to finish this one. Don't hurt me because Eryn's an OC, I've done my very best not to make anything too easy for her. I'm trying to keep all the characters as IC as possible, let me know if I'm doing badly. Pairings will include Eryn/Kratos, but it will remain one-sided for the duration of this fic. Sequels are still undecided as far as that; I may pair them, or I may leave it unrequited.  
Thanks to kratos lover1 for encouraging me to post this. This one's for you, and for all my LJ friends who I emailed copies to, all of you guys are so wonderful to me.

Warnings: Spoilers throughout for various aspects of the game, most particularly those that involve Kratos, since we'll be seeing his thoughts in several portions of the fic.

Disclaimer: Eryn is mine, a lot of the stuff that comes up later regarding quarter-elves, and some other things, is mine. I do not own Tales of Symphonia, unfortunately; if I did, Regal would have had a bigger part and better art. There are, like, two images in the entire game that make him look good...anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot..._this_ is thoughts (only Eryn's, in this chapter) and this is emphasis. Enjoy the fic!

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Chapter 1: The Traveler

Eryn Minervine was on her way back to the inn in Triet after spending the day at the nearby ruins. The monsters in that area had become more active than usual. _Then again_, she thought, _that's hardly surprising. The Tower of Salvation appeared, so the Chosen must be starting her Journey of Regeneration. She'll probably be coming here soon; I'd better head for Izoold first thing in the morning_. That being decided, she made a beeline for the inn, or at least, began to; something green in the stables caught her eye.

_There's no way that could be a horse,_ she thought, approaching the stables slowly. Entering the open-air building, she peered into the first stall. A huge green-and-white canine lay asleep on the floor, gigantic ears twitching slightly. _Whoa. And it's not a dog, either._ She was leaning in for a closer look, when the creature's ears twitched sharply, and it opened liquid black eyes to look at her.

Startled, Eryn began to back up slowly, but the creature was on its feet in a flash, holding a mouthful of her cloak and growling warningly. "Whoa!" Eryn cried, "Um, nice doggy…thing. Let go, huh?" It shook its head, with another growl. "Hey, I wasn't hurting anything, buddy…I just wanted to look at you, you're a bit unusual." It whined at her, almost apologetically if that was possible, but wouldn't let go. "C'mon, please?"

Suddenly, there was a voice behind her, hard and suspicious. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

Eryn turned slowly, so as not to alarm either the creature or the owner of the voice. She found herself facing a swordsman, standing in the door of the stables. His unruly auburn hair, the same shade as his eyes, fell so that it partially obscured his face; he wore a purple jumpsuit and a matching swallowtail cape. He was well-built, and ruggedly handsome, and obviously not going to let her leave without a damned good explanation.

So she put on her best harmless-girl face, and started explaining. "Well, you see, sir, I was just looking at this doggy-thing – I've never seen anything like him before, and I was curious – and then he woke up and grabbed onto my cloak! I mean, what's with that, anyway? He won't let go! Can you call him off or something?" She tugged ineffectually at her cloak for emphasis, and gave him a pouting look for good measure. _Come on, I'm young, determined, indignant, a little naïve, and completely harmless._

"And where is your guardian? Surely a young girl like yourself isn't traveling alone," the swordsman replied skeptically.

"I'm not that young! And I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" Eryn cried indignantly, perfectly in-character with the person she was supposed to be. _If I wasn't on the run, I could make good money in the theater…if people in this world had time for things like theater._

The swordsman raised an eyebrow, glancing pointedly at the creature's mouthful of her cloak, "Obviously."

Eryn allowed her face to redden, getting more into this character, "Okay, I can take care of myself in a fight. Somehow, I thought this guy's owner might object if I used force to free myself." _Hm, was that last sentence too wordy? I need to be careful about that._

The swordsman smirked briefly; then the expression fell away, leaving the suspicious glare in its place. "Enough games. Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Geez, no need to be rude about it. My name's Eryn, and I'm traveling around the world studying ancient ruins. I was out at the desert ruin near here all day, and I saw this thing in the stables when I came back. I'd never seen anything like it before, so I came to get a closer look. It grabbed my cloak and wouldn't let go. Then you came in and started yelling at me." It was the truth – to a point. Ancient cultures were a hobby of Eryn's, something to absorb her attention as she traveled around the world. She couldn't stay in one place too long, so being an itinerant scholar was a good cover.

"How do I know you're telling the truth? Perhaps you were intending to hide in his stall, waiting for his owners to come back so you could rob them. Do you know, by any chance, what the penalty for thievery is in Triet?" The swordsman's deep voice held a note of mockery.

Eryn allowed herself to swallow visibly; the person she was pretending to be would be frightened of the threat whether it had any merit or not. She did indeed know the penalty for thievery in Triet. A thief was lucky if they escaped with only a hand missing; and in this world, where medical skill was practically nonexistent, such a wound was likely to become fatally infected. But the situation she was in wasn't compromising enough for her to be convicted of thievery, and the swordsman had to know that. He was trying to frighten her, and her job now was to let him believe he was succeeding. "I-I'm no thief!" she spat indignantly, with just a touch of nervousness.

The swordsman seemed to be about to reply, when his attention was drawn to something in the direction of the inn. Eryn heard him mutter something under his breath; her pointed ears were able to make out the words, but they were in a language she didn't understand, an intriguing thing in and of itself. She turned to see where he was looking; a boy, perhaps seventeen, dressed in red, was approaching, his short brown hair waving in the desert breeze. From the way he was approaching them directly, she assumed he must know the swordsman; there was a resemblance between them as well, strong enough that Eryn assumed this was the swordsman's younger brother.

"Hey, Kratos – Huh? Who are you?" the boy called out, first to the swordsman, then to Eryn, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Noishe caught her snooping around his stall," the swordsman – Kratos – explained, "I believe she may be a spy."

The boy looked at Eryn skeptically. "Are you sure?" he asked, "She doesn't look like a Desian to me."

"She could hardly be a good spy if she went around in a Desian uniform, Lloyd," Kratos said with a touch of exasperation, "Her ears are pointed; she has Elven blood."

_Damn, he noticed. Oh, well, that Lloyd kid seems more reasonable. If I play this right, I may still be able to get out of this._ "And that's supposed to make me a Desian? Not all half-elves are Desians, you know! And I'm not even a half-elf; I'm only quarter-elven!" Then, as if she'd just thought of it, she asked, "Besides, why would the Desians be spying on a couple of human swordsmen?"

"Never mind that," Kratos said. Eryn pouted, apparently put out by the dismissal. Internally, she was reaching out with her mana-sensing abilities to try to determine if there was anything odd about either swordsman. _Hm, so Kratos is a magic-user…Their auras are similar enough, they must be related…and there's something strange about both of them, but I can't quite pinpoint what._

"I suppose I can see your point," Lloyd told Kratos, "We can't take that risk. But what if she's innocent? I don't want to ruin the life of someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why were you hanging around Noishe's stall, anyway?" This last question was directed at Eryn.

"As I told your brother here, I saw this thing – Noishe, was it? – when I was on my way back to the inn from studying the Triet ruins, and I didn't know what he was, so I wanted a closer look. He woke up and grabbed my cloak, and wouldn't let go. Kratos found me here, and started interrogating me, and then he accused me of being a thief! Then you came out, and he started accusing me of being a Desian spy instead!" Eryn managed a mixture of petulance and confusion that should be just right to indicate a harmless, innocent girl caught up in something she didn't understand.

"Uhh…Kratos isn't my brother." Lloyd seemed a bit confused by the statement.

"He isn't?" _Could these similarities really be coincidental?_ "I mean, you look so much alike, and your mana signatures are similar, too…"

"It must be a coincidence; we aren't related or anything," Lloyd told her. At the edge of Eryn's vision, Kratos' expression might have flickered briefly, but she couldn't be sure she'd seen it, let alone what she'd seen.

"Huh, well, whatever. So are you gonna persuade this pet of yours to let me go?" _Please, please let him believe me._

"I…don't know," Lloyd said. He seemed to be about to continue, when he was interrupted by three more people arriving on the scene: a half-elven woman with silver hair, a young half-elf who was almost certainly her brother – although Eryn couldn't be completely sure, after Lloyd and Kratos – and a human girl with blonde hair and wide blue eyes.

"Lloyd, what are you doing out here?" the half-elven boy cried, "And who are you?" That was, of course, directed at Eryn.

Eryn sighed exasperatedly, "My name is Eryn Minervine. I'm a traveler, studying ancient ruins. I saw this creature, Noishe, on my way back from visiting the Triet ruins, and came to take a closer look. He woke up and grabbed onto my cloak. No one, so far, has been willing to make him let go. I have been called a thief and a spy already tonight, and I don't like either name. If this is the price of curiosity, then I'm sorry already!"

"How do we know you're not a Desian?" the woman asked.

Eryn faced her squarely and looked her in the eyes, "Because I'm not a half-elf, I'm a quarter-elf. Most half-elves – especially the Desians – look down on quarter-elves for having tainted blood…as I'm sure you know."

"Why would we know that? Raine and I are elves!" the boy replied, a little too quickly and forcefully.

"Huh? …Oh, of course, my mistake. I'm sorry; I've had a stressful night." _If they can get away with that, then good for them. Wish I could do the same…_

"Still, she has a good point. The Desians wouldn't be likely to accept a quarter-elf, even if one had all the same abilities as a half-elf – and very few of them do," the woman said.

Eryn nodded, "Yeah, that's right. In my case, I age slowly, and I can sense mana really well, but I can't use it hardly at all." _Better to tell the truth here; if they catch me in a lie, they won't trust me at all._

"How much is 'hardly at all'?" Lloyd wondered.

"I can call up enough flame to light a candle, enough wind to make it flicker, enough water to put it out, and enough ice to freeze the water. I can also float very small pebbles, and produce a small shock – like if I had rubbed my feet across a carpet. I can't do a thing with light or darkness, and I can't heal. Nothing particularly useful, no matter how hard I try." Eryn schooled her expression into a mild sulk, as if she was embarrassed by her lack of ability.

"Anyway, it sounds like she probably isn't a spy. We should let her go," the human girl spoke up for the first time, "I'm sorry for all the trouble, Miss Eryn."

"…If that is the Chosen's wish, then we must respect it," said Kratos. He seemed unhappy about the fact, but that suddenly didn't concern Eryn anymore. Forgetting to maintain her persona, her expression went blank as she turned to the girl.

"You…are Sylvarant's Chosen of Mana?" she asked slowly. _No wonder Kratos was so suspicious of me, if he's protecting the Chosen. What have I gotten myself into?_

"Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves, didn't we?" the girl – _the Chosen_ – cried, "I'm Colette Brunel, and this is Genis Sage," she indicated the 'elven' boy, "and this is Professor Raine," she pointed at the woman, "She's Genis' sister."

"You're the Chosen," Eryn repeated. Colette took her shock for disbelief and smiled sympathetically.

"I know, I'm not very Chosen-like, am I? But I promise to do my best to regenerate the world!" Her determined tone snapped Eryn out of her shock, and she quickly replaced her façade.

"I'm sure you will," she said with a cheerful smile. "I'm sure your journey will take a lot of energy, you guys should probably get to bed, huh? I'd hate to slow you down!"

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Lloyd asked, "We're gonna be traveling the world, too, and it's safer to travel with a group than it is to be on your own, right? Besides, you must be a pretty good fighter if you've been traveling alone, and we could use the help. Whaddaya say?"

_Is this kid crazy?_ Eryn decided to ask the thought aloud, "Are you crazy, or just stupid? One minute, you think I'm a spy, the next you want me to join you? Is there anything going on in your head at all?"

"Lloyd, you never think anything through, do you?" Genis asked.

"…Actually," Kratos said, "That's not a bad solution." Genis and Eryn gaped at him simultaneously; Lloyd and Colette turned toward him, surprised, and Raine nodded thoughtfully.

"That way, we could keep an eye on her," Raine pointed out, "And if she's telling the truth, our destinations are likely to be the same, as most of the seals will probably be found within ruin sites. Any way you look at it, it makes more sense for us to travel together than separately."

_Damn, I'm trapped._ Eryn smiled outwardly, "I suppose that's true. It'll be nice not to have to do all the fighting myself for a change. All right, then, I'll meet up with you guys in the morning! I've already got a room; I've been staying here all week."

Colette beamed, "That's great! We'll see you tomorrow, then!" Genis, Raine, Colette and Lloyd went back to the hotel. Eryn moved to follow them, then stopped, remembering that Noishe still had her cloak in his mouth. She turned to get him to release her…and found him with his mouth hanging wide open and his tongue lolling out, a huge doggy grin on his face.

"When did you–" she muttered, "Oh, never mind." She left the stables, Kratos moving from the doorway to let her through, then trailing behind her; which of course forced her to go directly into the hotel, rather than slip off and leave before they could notice she was gone. _He's good._

Once she reached her room and closed the door, she sighed, sinking down onto the bed. _Seventy-five years of avoiding practically all contact with the Church, and I get roped into the Journey of World Regeneration completely by accident. How the hell am I going to get out of this one?_

_

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Whoa. Who the heck is this girl? Review with encouragement if you want to find out!


	2. A Seraph's Perspective

Welcome to Chapter Two of In Between! This is the same scene as last chapter, but from Kratos' perspective. Chapters after this one will be mixed perspective of all the involved characters, for the forseeable future, but I liked this limited-perspective style to start with. Hm, random character muse to do the disclaimer...how about Dio Eraclea, of Last Exile?

Dio: Hooray! I get to help! Sylvia doesn't own anything except Eryn, so please don't sue her, or I'll send the Guild after you::gleeful grin:

--; Thank you, Dio.

_Italics_ means thoughts, underline means emphasis.

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Chapter Two: A Seraph's Perspective 

After rescuing Lloyd, the party went to rest at the inn in Triet. Lloyd had gone to give the Professor the Key Crest he had finished repairing for her; Kratos took advantage of the boy's absence to go speak with Noishe, and perhaps sort out the dilemma he found himself in regarding his son.

As he approached the stable, his angelic hearing picked up a girl's voice from inside, and he could see a figure. He went around to the doorway, standing in it to prevent the girl from escaping, and observed her for a moment.

"…I just wanted to look at you, you're a bit unusual," she was saying as she struggled with something. Noishe whined apologetically, and she replied, "C'mon, please?" It seemed that Noishe had caught her by the cloak.

Kratos chose that moment to make his presence known. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

The girl turned, slowly. She had blonde hair with streaks of aqua running through it, in a braid down her back. Her eyes were bright blue, and she wore a green tunic and black pants, covered by a dark green cloak, a portion of which was held between Noishe's teeth. The cloak was fastened with a golden, leaf-shaped brooch; on her belt hung a coiled whip, her only visible weaponry. Her ears, he noted, were pointed, betraying elven heritage, probably no more than two generations back. For just an instant, he felt a flash of half-recognition, as if he'd seen her somewhere before, but in a completely different context. The notion was ridiculous; he was certain he would remember having met someone with such distinctive hair.

She seemed to be sizing him up; the look in her eyes was wise and calculating. It almost reminded him of someone, but before he could decide who, her expression changed. The depth and wisdom in her eyes faded into a shallow innocence, far more appropriate to the age she appeared to be. Finally, she spoke, "Well, you see, sir, I was just looking at this doggy-thing – I've never seen anything like him before, and I was curious – and then he woke up and grabbed onto my cloak! I mean, what's with that, anyway? He won't let go! Can you call him off or something?" She tugged on her cloak and pouted, her behavior completely alien to the dignity he had seen at first, causing Kratos to wonder if perhaps he'd been mistaken.

_Did I even see that expression she was wearing? Or was it just an illusion from my subconscious? She does look familiar. Perhaps I was projecting someone else's expressions onto her…This requires further investigation._ "And where is your guardian? Surely a young girl like yourself isn't traveling alone."

For just a moment, so swiftly he almost didn't catch it, the girl's façade faltered as she considered her response for that split-second; it was back up almost instantly, but that small error was enough. _No, it's a mask. She doesn't want me to know how old she really is, for whatever reason. It could be because I'm human…she's definitely one of those who ages slowly, and may have faced persecution for that. On the other hand, she could easily be a spy for the Renegades, trying to get close to the group…they can't be happy about the way we escaped their base._

"I'm not that young!" the girl replied indignantly, "And I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"

_She's a pretty good actor, though._ Kratos raised an eyebrow and glanced pointedly at Noishe's mouthful of the girl's cloak, "Obviously."

The girl's face reddened, "Okay, I can take care of myself in a fight. Somehow, I thought this guy's owner might object if I used force to free myself."

_That was a bit of a slip there, in her speech…_ Kratos smirked at her words, then allowed the expression to fall away. "Enough games. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" One way or another, Kratos would figure out who this girl really was; if she was a bystander, he would let her go, of course. And if she was a spy…well, he could hardly give her the chance to tell the Renegades where the Chosen was, could he?

"Geez, no need to be rude about it," the girl replied, "My name's Eryn, and I'm traveling around the world studying ancient ruins. I was out at the desert ruin near here all day, and I saw this thing in the stables when I came back. I'd never seen anything like it before, so I came to get a closer look. It grabbed my cloak and wouldn't let go. Then you came in and started yelling at me." It was a reasonable enough story, certainly, but she could easily have thought it up on the spot; if Kratos was in her position, he would likely have said something very similar. He still couldn't rule out the possibility of her being a spy.

If she wanted to play that way, though, he was willing to oblige. "How do I know you're telling the truth? Perhaps you were intending to hide in his stall, waiting for his owners to come back so you could rob them. Do you know, by any chance, what the penalty for thievery is in Triet?" he asked her mockingly. It was a bluff, of course, and she would know it…but calling him on it would reveal who she really was. _How far is she willing to take this little game?_

Her eyes widened in a flawless display of alarm. "I-I'm no thief!" she spat indignantly, with just a hint of fear in her voice.

_Apparently quite far._ Kratos opened his mouth to reply, when his enhanced hearing caught the sound of the inn's door closing, and he saw a flash of red in that direction. He turned to see Lloyd approaching, and swore under his breath in Angelic. _Damn, I was hoping to deal with this quietly…_

"Hey, Kratos – Huh? Who are you?" Lloyd called out as he approached, first to Kratos, then to the girl, "Am I interrupting something?"

_Perhaps, if I can convince Lloyd that she could be dangerous, we can still deal with her, without a huge commotion._ "Noishe caught her snooping around his stall," he told the younger swordsman, "I believe she may be a spy." _Let him come to his own conclusions about who she would be spying for._

Lloyd regarded Eryn skeptically for a moment, "Are you sure? She doesn't look like a Desian to me."

Kratos suppressed an exasperated sigh. _He's so naïve…sometimes it's hard to believe he's my son…_ "She could hardly be a good spy if she went around in a Desian uniform, Lloyd," he pointed out, "Her ears are pointed; she has Elven blood." He didn't like playing on racial biases to further distrust, and he wasn't even entirely sure it would work on Lloyd, but protecting the Chosen and their traveling group had to be his first priority.

Eryn's eyes narrowed as she exclaimed, "And that's supposed to make me a Desian? Not all half-elves are Desians, you know! And I'm not even a half-elf; I'm only quarter-elven!" Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Besides, why would the Desians be spying on a couple of human swordsmen?"

_Either she's playing this part very well indeed, or she honestly doesn't know that we're with the Chosen, in which case she doesn't need to find out._ "Never mind that," he told her brusquely; she seemed to pout a bit at that, but her eyes had a strangely distant look, much like he'd seen in others of Elven blood when they were casting a spell. There was no change in the mana around her, though. _Probably aura-sensing._

"I suppose I can see your point," Lloyd told him, "We can't take that risk. But what if she's innocent? I don't want to ruin the life of someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." The boy looked a bit troubled; and after what the children had told them of the events in Iselia, Kratos could understand why. Turning to Eryn, the young swordsman asked, "Why were you hanging around Noishe's stall, anyway?"

Eryn seemed a bit calmer, now that she was faced with someone who seemed more open to reasoning. "As I told your brother here, I saw this thing – Noishe, was it? – when I was on my way back to the inn from studying the Triet ruins, and I didn't know what he was, so I wanted a closer look. He woke up and grabbed my cloak, and wouldn't let go. Kratos found me here, and started interrogating me, and then he accused me of being a thief! Then you came out, and he started accusing me of being a Desian spy instead!"

_Brother? Oh, Gods, is the resemblance that obvious? If the others notice…_With an effort, Kratos kept from reacting visibly at Eryn's innocent blunder.

"Uhh…Kratos isn't my brother," Lloyd told her, a bit confused.

"He isn't?" Eryn seemed genuinely surprised, "I mean, you look so much alike, and your mana signatures are similar, too…"

"It must be a coincidence; we aren't related or anything," Lloyd told her. Kratos was caught by surprise at the stab of pain that accompanied Lloyd's words, and didn't quite manage to suppress a wince.

_I'm being ridiculous. He doesn't know, couldn't know…and that's for the best._ He hoped that the others hadn't noticed his brief reaction; that could raise some awkward questions.

"Huh, well, whatever." Eryn seemed willing to drop the subject, thankfully. "So are you going to persuade this pet of yours to let me go?"

Lloyd's expression was torn. "I…don't know," he began hesitantly; whatever he might have said next was lost in the arrival of the rest of the party, as they flocked around the stables.

Genis spoke up almost immediately, "Lloyd, what are you doing out here?" The child turned to Eryn, "And who are you?"

Eryn sighed exasperatedly, something with which Kratos could sympathize, "My name is Eryn Minervine. I'm a traveler, studying ancient ruins. I saw this creature, Noishe, on my way back from visiting the Triet ruins, and came to take a closer look. He woke up and grabbed onto my cloak. No one, so far, has been willing to make him let go. I have been called a thief and a spy already tonight, and I don't like either name. If this is the price of curiosity, then I'm sorry already!"

"How do we know you're not a Desian?" Raine asked suspiciously.

Eryn turned to her, the barest hint of steel in her tone as she looked the woman directly in the eyes, "Because I'm not a half-elf, I'm a quarter-elf. Most half-elves – especially the Desians – look down on quarter-elves for having tainted blood…as I'm sure you know."

_This is interesting._ Kratos had, of course, known that Genis and Raine were half-elves, not that it bothered him at all. He wondered if their secret would come out because of this.

"Why would we know that? Raine and I are elves!" Genis cried, too quickly and too vehemently, as if he could convince Eryn it was true as long as he stated it forcefully enough.

Eryn blinked once, "Huh? …Oh, of course, my mistake. I'm sorry; I've had a stressful night."

_That never ceases to amaze me, somehow, that solidarity between complete strangers purely because of their like blood,_ Kratos thought, _It must be one of the only good aspects of this system that encourages discrimination._

"Still," Raine said, "she has a good point. The Desians wouldn't be likely to accept a quarter-elf, even if one had all the same abilities as a half-elf – and very few of them do."

_The Desians wouldn't take her, but the Renegades are known for their anti-discrimination policy,_ Kratos thought, _There are many quarter-elves and even humans among their ranks, although the organization is mostly half-elves. She could still easily be spying for them…_

Eryn nodded, "Yeah, that's right. In my case, I age slowly, and I can sense mana really well, but I can't use it hardly at all."

Kratos reached out with his senses, focusing to determine if she was telling the truth. He wasn't as instinctively adept at sensing auras as an elf or half-elf would be, but he'd had more than enough practice to make up for that. _She's right…her ability to manipulate mana is extremely rudimentary; there's no threat there. …But there's still a thread of something familiar about her…why can't I remember?_

"How much is 'hardly at all'?" Lloyd wondered aloud.

"I can call up enough flame to light a candle, enough wind to make it flicker, enough water to put it out, and enough ice to freeze the water. I can also float very small pebbles, and produce a small shock – like if I had rubbed my feet across a carpet. I can't do a thing with light or darkness, and I can't heal. Nothing particularly useful, no matter how hard I try." Eryn seemed a little sulky, as though she were embarrassed by her lack of magical ablility.

Colette, who had been remarkably quiet the whole time, spoke up, "Anyway, it sounds like she probably isn't a spy. We should let her go. I'm sorry for all the trouble, Miss Eryn."

_Damn. I can't tell them about the Renegades, not when I haven't entirely earned their trust yet; Raine, at least, will wonder how a simple mercenary could have such extensive knowledge._ "…If that is the Chosen's wish, then we must respect it," he said, allowing his disapproval to show through in his expression as well as his use of the girl's title instead of her name.

Eryn, however, did not seem relieved by this decision; in fact, she seemed completely shocked. "You…are Sylvarant's Chosen of Mana?" she asked Colette slowly.

_Her façade is gone,_ Kratos noted, _She's honestly surprised. I suppose that means she isn't a Renegade…but why is she so shocked?_

"Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves, didn't we?" Colette exclaimed, "I'm Colette Brunel, and this is Genis Sage," she pointed to the young half-elf, "and this is Professor Raine," indicating the Professor, "She's Genis' sister."

"You're the Chosen." Eryn actually seemed rather distressed about that fact, although Kratos couldn't fathom why that would be.

Colette, taking the girl's shock for disbelief, smiled at her sympathetically. "I know," she said, "I'm not very Chosen-like, am I? But I promise to do my best to regenerate the world!"

Eryn seemed to snap out of her shock with those words. "I'm sure you will," she said, smiling cheerfully, "I'm sure your Journey will take a lot of energy, you guys should probably get to bed, huh? I'd hate to slow you down!"

_She's really shaken, to lose her subtlety like that,_ Kratos thought, _How strange._

Something seemed to occur to Lloyd. "Hey, why don't you come with us?" he asked, "We're gonna be traveling the world, too, and it's safer to travel with a group than it is to be on your own, right? Besides, you must be a pretty good fighter if you've been traveling alone, and we could use the help. Whaddaya say?"

Eryn looked at him as though he'd suggested that Noishe was actually a small bird. "Are you crazy, or just stupid? One minute, you think I'm a spy, the next you want me to join you? Is there anything going on in your head at all?"

"Lloyd, you never think anything through, do you?" Genis asked.

_There's something very strange about that girl, and if we have to bring her along to find out what it is, then that is exactly what we'll do, _Kratos thought,_ She doesn't seem to be a threat to the Chosen – on the contrary, she seems to want to be as far from her as possible – and Lloyd's right that her skills in battle will be an asset. I can't be everywhere, and none of the others have much experience in actual battling._ "...Actually, that's not a bad solution," Kratos said. The children and Eryn reacted in varying degrees of surprise; only Raine nodded in understanding.

"That way, we could keep an eye on her," the scholarly woman pointed out, "And if she's telling the truth, our destinations are likely to be the same, as most of the seals will probably be found within ruin sites. Any way you look at it, it makes more sense for us to travel together than separately."

Eryn gave a wide, brittle-seeming smile, "I suppose that's true. It'll be nice not to have to do all the fighting myself for a change. All right, then, I'll meet up with you guys in the morning! I've already got a room; I've been staying here all week."

Colette beamed at her, "That's great! We'll see you tomorrow, then!" With that, the others left. Kratos remained behind, not trusting that the quarter-elven girl wouldn't bolt as soon as she was out of their sight.

Eryn moved to leave, then turned back to Noishe, expecting her cloak to still be between his teeth. The Protozoan just smiled his laughing grin up at her, his tongue lolling out comically; Kratos found it far more amusing than Eryn did. "When did you-" she muttered, "Oh, never mind." She moved toward the entrance, and Kratos vacated the doorway to let her pass, then trailed her into the inn.

Once he was certain she was safely in her room, Kratos went back to the room he shared with Lloyd and lay upon the bed, thinking. _As if this Journey didn't have enough complications…now we're bringing along a strange girl who I've never met, and yet somehow recognize._ He shook his head, _The stress must be getting to me; after four thousand years, I'm finally starting to go crazy._ With that less-than-comforting thought, he closed his eyes, to spend another night futilely searching for the sleep that came to him all too rarely. Although he needed no sleep, it was a more pleasant way to pass the nights than utter boredom…when he was able to do so. The older he became, it seemed, the more difficult sleeping grew, even though he never aged physically. _I should ask Yuan about that someday,_ he thought, then settled in for the long night.

* * *

Poor Kratos. Please review and tell me how horribly OOC he was! He's not as reserved and formal in his thoughts than he is in his speech, especially because I wanted to try to give you a look into how he thinks. I hope I did okay!  



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